Inteltrends: Burma Report 29-JUN-2010

The Chinese weapons manufacturer recently awarded a contract to operate Burma’s lucrative Monywa copper mine had sold Burma heavy artillery prior to the deal, military sources have revealed. Weeks before the contract between the Burmese government and China North Industries Corp (or Norinco) was agreed, senior officials from the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) travelled to China to “check on the shipments” of SH-1 155mm howitzer cannons, military sources have told DVB. The hardware was transported to Burma from China via sea-routes, mirroring a similar alleged weapons drop by a North Korean ship to Rangoon in April this year. It appears to corroborate allegations by campaign groups that the copper deal was sweetened by arms sales to Burma…

Burmese military authorities are planning to beef up security for oil and gas pipeline projects on Madae Island in Arakan State due to Chinese pressure, reports a police officer. The source said that China had raised concerns over security risks at its pipeline projects in Arakan after a series of bomb explosions at the Chinese hydropower dam project in Myitsone in northern Burma’s Kachin State…

Kachin members belonging to the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) have been pressurized by the Burmese military junta to float a new political party to contest the election later this year, said local sources…

One of China’s biggest arms makers signed a contract with a Burmese junta-controlled entity this month involving “co-operation” in a Monywa copper mine, raising serious questions over the status of Canadian miner Ivanhoe’s holdings in the town northwest of Mandalay and whether Burma sanctions have been violated. Defence contractor China North Industries Corporation (Norinco), one of the Chinese military’s biggest suppliers, disclosed in a press release that in the first week of this month its chairman, Zhang Guoqing, had signed the “Monywa Copper Mine Project Co-operation Contract” with Major-General Win Than of the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited, a major revenue generator for the Burmese military regime…

North Korean rockets were recently delivered to missile operation commands in Mohnyin in Kachin State, Naungcho and Kengtung in Shan State and Kyaukpadaung in Mandalay Division, sources said. Missile operation commands were reportedly formed in 2009. It is not clear when the multiple launch rocket systems were shipped from North Korea. However, military sources said delivery of rocket launchers mounted on trucks occurred several times in recent years…